Published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God is a classic African-American novel. Everyone knows classics tend to be dull. At least I thought so. Hurston's book was on my "read someday" list until my book discussion group chose the novel and I reluctantly sat down to read it. I was totally blown away and that's why I've written this review. This is a book that could serve as a textbook for all aspiring writers.

Zora Hurston's usage of language is incredible. She does the impossible. Phrase after phrase leaps from the page, vivid, realistic-sounding dialect that is down-to-earth yet poetic. One small example:  Protagonist Janie is sixteen. Most authors would describe how at sixteen the girl is longing for romance and wishing she could explore the world. The novel expresses that thought thus: "In the air of the room were flies tumbling and singing, marrying and giving in marriage . . . Janie tipped on out of the front door. Oh to be a pear tree—any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world!  She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her. Where were the singing bees for her?"

 Nearly every page has a language gem. The story itself is beautiful too. Janie is a girl born to poverty, raised by a grandmother born a slave and therefore thinking of nothing except a safe, comfortable life for Janie. So the novel follows Janie's growth as a human being as she learns to be independent and to trust in her own strength. The final lines read: "Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder.  So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see."

 It's an extraordinary story, well worth reading.

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